A HELICOPTER was needed to evacuate an injured mountain biker in Innerleithen earlier this week.

It was the second time the Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team attended the town’s biking trails in a matter of days after volunteers responded to an incident on Sunday (April 17).

In the latest call-out on Tuesday, the biker had suffered a “significant upper arm injury”.

On the incident, a spokesperson for the team said: “After assessment by Scottish Ambulance Service paramedics, it was decided that the casualty required helicopter evacuation due to a significant upper arm injury coupled with potentially more serious injuries caused by the impact of his crash.

“The helicopter evacuation meant he was at hospital 10 minutes after the aircraft left the incident site as opposed to potentially a one and a half hour transfer by road ambulance.”

Seven volunteers from the team were on hand to help the man. It was the charity’s thirteenth call-out this year.

Last year was the busiest on record for the Borders-based group after dealing with more than 80 incidents.

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The team is a charity and has to raise most of the funds it requires itself.

It currently takes about £30,000 to cover the team’s operating expenses for one year, according to the group’s website.

The latest call-outs come in the same month that the team was featured in the BBC television programme ‘Paramedics on Scene’.

The documentary series follows the life-saving work of Scotland’s paramedics.

In episode one of series three, which aired earlier this month, a mountain biker called Emma was involved in a high-speed crash on a remote trail in the Borders.

The mountain rescue team was drafted in to help the two paramedics take the 34-year-old back to the ambulance, located around two miles away from the site of the accident.

Volunteers at the charity were able to offer a stretcher with extendable handles to carry the casualty off the hillside.

Thanks to the work of the paramedics and the team, Emma was safely taken to hospital. Those wanting to watch the episode can catch up on iPlayer.

Those wanting to donate to the charity can do here.